Don't tase me! Contract approved

Mostly this blog entry is an excuse to run the video at the bottom, cause I think it's funny and I don't care if you don't think it's not funny. I just don't.

Soooo, the background:

The Knox County Commission unanimously approved a resolution that lets the Sheriff's Office purchase 285 electroshock devices from Taser International for almost $300,000.

The Tasers are good for five years and by buying them now, the county saved $15,000 to $20,000, said finance officials. Regardless, though, the department needed the updated tools, since the warranties on the ones deputies currently carry are about to expire.

“Taser (International) is getting ready to phase out the old tasers and right now they are the king of the mountain, they are the sole source, so it's not like we have a choice,” said Knox County Sheriff Jimmy “J.J.” Jones. “Once they phase them out, they won't honor any type of repairs on them.”

Jones said the devises have allowed his officers to use “less than lethal force when when there were times they could have used lethal force.”

County Finance Director Chris Calwell said the county will use $110,000 from surplus revenues received in the recently closed fiscal year's budget to cover part of the costs. The rest will come from a $500,000 earmark set aside in case of a major fuel price increase.

“I don't think we'll have to dip into that because the price of fuel has gone down but we'll continue to monitor the situation,” Caldwell said.

Now, all this got me to thinking about that goofball down in Florida awhile back. You know, the “Don't tase me,” guy. Click right smack here if you have no clue what I'm talking about. Anyhoo, I youtubed the thing and found this video.

Funny stuff.